


Bashful Smiles

by kxdlola120



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 17:24:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13768929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kxdlola120/pseuds/kxdlola120
Summary: Kyungsoo starts getting little doodles and notes on the blackboard by his work desk, and tries to find the culprit.





	Bashful Smiles

"Yeol, I really need to go home,"

"Nope, you're staying for another drink." 

"But―"

"No buts, Kyung. You haven't been out with us for so long. We deserve some attention too, you know.."

"... Fine."

Kyungsoo heaves another exasperated sigh, after agreeing to stay for just one more drink with his colleagues. It's not that he doesn't like any of them, on contrary, they make him happy and content, like he's been needing their company after a stressful week, but he's got to get up tomorrow really early, and those cages aren't going to clean themselves before the visitors arrive. 

But he smiles his dimpled smile when Sehun pours him another bubbly drink, and clinks his glass with Baekhyun's one when the said male pushes him to drink bottoms up. Kyungsoo tries to swallow down the sour taste of alcohol, but his system is going into the over-drive slowly, and he just might vomit right there and then. 

"Have you heard we're getting a new employee tomorrow?" Luhan, their manager asks, having to yell over the boisterous music of their local night club. Some of them nod their heads, like Joonmyun for example, their boss and director of the Zoo, since he was the one who probably hired the new addition to their crew. 

And some of them wait to hear it 'till the end, well, everyone except Kyungsoo who slowly loses his vision in the bubbles swinging from side to side as he sloshes his drink in the crystal glass. 

"Well, he's our new bear expert, and he's coming to help out Sehun with their needs and nourishment." Joonmyun concludes with a proud smile, knowing that their new employee was the perfect candidate for the job.

"Wait, does that mean I don't have to take care of them anymore?" Sehun's head pops out somewhere off the table, looking expectedly at their boss.

"Well, not really, but if Jongin's okay with it―"

"Yes! No more bear poo for me!" Sehun cut him off, even throwing a fist in the air as a sign of celebration. He really must be hating the bear cages. 

"Hihi, poo," Kyungsoo giggles from the sides, clapping his thigh harshly, as he laughs loudly. His eyes and hands movement aren't coordinated anymore, and maybe that extra drink wasn't needed after all.

"Somebody needs to take him home, right?" Luhan asks from his seat across the flushed, still giggling boy, earning four nods in return. 

"I'm not doing it!" Chanyeol responds when everybody turn to look at him, since his plan to loosen the boy up got him seconds away from Kyungsoo toppling down over the table and falling into a deep snooze afterwards. 

"Well, he hates when I visit his place," Luhan says, matter of facts, before pushing Joonmyun to say something.

"Oh, right. Well, since Baekhyun here is the closest to his place, why don't you take him home?" Their boss says, pleading his employee with his eyes, before Baekhyun exhales loudly, standing up to fetch the boy that starts doing weird hip thrusts to a slow, sly ballad song. 

"Fine! But I'm only doing this because he's shitfaced, and not being able to take care of himself," When he tries to pry away Kyungsoo from the next table of girls with colorful cocktail drinks with little dotted umbrellas, he doesn't budge, and instead slides a stolen paper ornament behind his ear.

"Pretty," Kyungsoo giggles at his reflection in the mirror wall, before smooching Baekhyun right across the cheek, pointing to his hair. 

"Yeah, yeah. It's cute. Come on, now." Baekhyun tries to pull him again, but Kyungsoo grabs at the umbrellas with his hands, but misses by an inch and instead spills one of the glasses over the table. 

"I'll pay for your next rounds, ladies," Chanyeol's quick to slide in the booth next to their table, already pulling out his valet, all the while ushering Baekhyun to just drag him out. 

"But my hats," Kyungsoo whines with a pout across his face, his chin trembling in his denied state. So Baekhyun pushes him back to Sehun's side on the sofa, going for the bar and snatching a glass full of umbrellas, dropping it over Kyungsoo's hair as he comes back.

"Here! Can we go now?" He asks, but gets no answer in return, as the asked male rolls around on the plush cushion of the booth, clumsily shaking his hands around, trying to make snow-angels in the fallen paper. But actually just gets Sehun annoyed with his hits and even kicking Baekhyun when he tries to move his legs with the rest of the choreography too.

"That's it, Santa. You're coming with me!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been two weeks since that little drunken rendezvous, but Kyungsoo's still ashamed to show his face at work. He wasn't the one to blame after all, since Chanyeol got scolding from their boss for mixing three types of hard liquor that night for Kyungsoo, but the younger still felt responsible for making a fool out of himself, and their little group of friends.

He hasn't been told the whole story about what he did, only snippets and funny moments, but he'd woken up the morning after it, covered in glitter and thrown around paper umbrellas. Baekhyun had explained the cause of the cocktail paper art around his bed, but he's stayed quiet about the glitter, Kyungsoo having to wash it from his body from like three showers together.

But, he apologized to everyone, and even brought their lunches the day after that night, since he felt really awkward with the whole situation. 

And his friends' teasing and reminiscing of that night didn't help.

Kyungsoo's arrived at his work around 5 AM, locking his car door at the parking lot at the back of the Zoo, before walking up to the main entrance with a viper in his step. 

It was a start of another week, and he was feeling exceptionally giddy to come back to his work, and precious animals, since the Zoo wasn't opened at Sundays, so Kyungsoo barely waited the Monday to come. 

He went to the changing room after greeting their ticket seller Tao at the entrance, before skipping to change into his work clothes as soon as possible. There wasn't anyone in the room when he entered, and he was glad for once, because he didn't like to undress in front of other people, much in front of those with tall, lean, handsome looking bodies, contrary to his small built and narrow shoulders.

But he couldn't dwell on that any longer, as he jumped into the gumboots, picking up a metallic bucket on his way to the yard.

"Kyung, hello!" Joonmyun waved from his office as Kyungsoo passed by, going back to the phone call he was still busy with. The latter only waved back, moving further along the cubicles that were set for the workers, even though the employees spent most of their times with the animals, or tracking their every move and need.

He quickly dropped to his office to leave his satchel behind, before continuing to his final destination - a colony of penguins over at their compartment. 

Kyungsoo loved those black and white waddlers more than anything, if anybody's to ask him. He even called them the charmers of Antarctica. It was really cute to see the creatures waddling on their way to the little pond they had in front of the enclosure, before hiding behind dull rocks that were placed specially for them to play around and replace the feeling of home. 

He sometimes mentioned Antarctica to them, in one of theirs everyday talks, wanting to bring closer their home to them, explaining how many of the same species still live there, and how beautiful their colonies are. 

But before he could wistful and even cry in front of his little feathery friends, he would bring snacks for them to nibble on, engrossing them all in the freshly hooked fish and peachy smooth krill fish. 

Kyungsoo greeted a bunch of others colleagues on his way, but never stopping to indulge in their talks, simply because he was starting to get impatient to check upon his flightless birds in dapper tuxedos. Other than the usual check up's and feeding time, he had a special task to complete this time; that being taking care of the female Chinstrap penguin, since she's built a little circular nest with stones, and been on the duty with her male companion in the incubation of the small chicks that are yet to hatch. 

Kyungsoo felt giddy to follow the nursing of the new chicks, since this was the first time for him to follow the process from the beginning to its end. 

When he ducked a full basket of fish down on the concrete floor just after closing the gate of the penguin parcele, he was being smothered by their attention; almost every penguin chirping at his feet, pulling him further more in by the bite on the trim of his overalls. 

"Wait, guys," He tries but fails awkwardly when the laughter bubbles out of his throat at the one little whimper that he hears from the bottom of the pile. He strodes over the bunch of pudgy guts and oval wings, not forgetting to fetch the bucket with goodies as well. 

"Okay, okay. There's enough for everyone." He sits down on one of the stones closest to him, holding the bucket over his head. The waddlers still nip at his feet, smell of the raw fishes filling up the air deliciously for them, so Kyungsoo has got to give in. 

"Okay, one for you," He plucks the fresh squid off the top of the bucket, holding it to one of them to swallow around it. This is the best kind of food for them, Kyungsoo thinks, but only having enough squid to feed them all. "Hey, Taehyung, don't steal from Minho!" Kyungsoo scolds when a Gentoo penguin strolls forward and grabs at the fish that his companion ought to have. 

Kyungsoo finishes up feeding them, emptying the bucket in a record time, before checking whether everyone is okay, well fed and with no new scratches and cuts. They are really a clumsy species, so every worker has to make sure that the rocks are filed down and not too thin to hurt them. 

Their usual check-up is up for a couple of days, so he goes through them all as fast as he could, since they all wasp him away, wanting to go for a swim with now full tummies. Kyungsoo smiles fondly as the last one slips from his hands, and drops down on his behind unceremoniously, but quickly follows after his brothers with an adorable waddle on his way. 

He hides a fish or two at the bottom of the bucket, though, grabbing one of the last squid from it, as well as one krill, before going around to the pile of stones in the crevice on the side of the big skerry. 

A brush-tailed female waits for him as he rounds the corner, holding the squid only for her to see. She doesn't budge or spring up when he sits next to her, holding the fish down for her to gulp down instead. Kyungsoo smiles proudly when another male approaches them, sitting down on the pile of stones beside her, warming up his nearly-hatched chicks with his natural heat. 

This feels closest to being a parent, as far as Kyungsoo has ever felt, but he tries not to happy-cry when the birds huddle up together, like affirming the other one that they are there for each other. 

Sure, he can get a little emotional and get carried away with the name giving or seeing individual personalities in each and every one of them (he knows every single name of the bunch, because they allowed him to name them), but when he speaks to them, Kyungsoo knows that they could understand him. 

He knows it, even after the colony spread around their little pond after being fed, or hiding from him when he wants to play with them. They all do it because Kyungsoo care, and because Kyungsoo gives the best neck massages once he finds them in the end. 

But they allow only him to feed them, to brush them, or even to clean their pond once it gets dirty, so he had to give back their respect. After all, he's to spend his life doing the most amazing job in the world, to him, with the most amazing clique there is. 

(Secretly, he coos to them in small, bubbly voices, but not before making sure they all recognize him, and give them a time of their day.)

Kyungsoo pets the female Chinstrap, before leaving the couple to be, going back to pick up the bucket and wash away everything. 

But just as he steps outside the ring area of their habitat, a tall, lean figure waits for him, obviously stealing glances at his buddies. 

"Can I help you?" Kyungsoo politely asks, but drops his gaze down when the figure turns around, looking him straight in the eyes. 

"K-Kyungsoo-hyung. Hi!" Jongin, their new colleague raises his hand in a quick wave, before dropping it down in a sweater paw of his jumper; so fast that Kyungsoo barely misses it. 

"Jongin, hey. How are you?" They somehow start walking back to their offices together, Jongin keeping a safe distant from his hyung, almost too far from each other. 

But Kyungsoo glances at him from time to time, seeing his eyes downcasted, and teeth worrying over his bottom lip, like the male contemplates what to say. 

"Are you―" But before he could ask anything, Jongin's whispering a small 'see you later' and bolting to the other direction from the one they're on currently, almost running away from Kyungsoo himself.

The latter only stands there dumbfounded, checking if Jongin's still in his sight, before glancing around. He doesn't smell of his fishes when he sniffs his work clothes, and he doesn't have anything on his face, as he checks his reflection in the washed-away grey hue of the bucket, but Jongin still bolted. 

Kyungsoo decides in his mind that his colleague probably left something at the bear cages on the other side of the Zoo, and that's the reason of his sudden leave. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"It's so boring," Baekhyun wails from his seat, spinning around in his seat with wheels at the bottom of plastic rods. His computer showcases his diary entry for today, about recovery of the particular Cheetah that has had some stitches on her hind leg from playing with one of the males back in her cage. 

Baekhyun says that's the way wild cats flirt with each other, but Kyungsoo doubts it. 

His feline-looking colleague is in charge of the feline species, along with Sehun and Minseok, so that's why he got the nickname feline trouble. 

To be honest, he wrote it himself on the back of his name plate on top of his desk, turning to the backside more than to the side that has his name written in bold letters. And most of the people here don't even call him that; well, with the exception of Chanyeol, the male mostly drooling after the petit male. He even helped him find a permanent marker for the crime done on his name plate.

"Why don't you do anything for a change," Yixing, his fellow penguin-lover, grunts over his pile of work from the petting Zoo they have at the back of the building. The older male is in charge of the smaller sized animals, such as reptiles, and baby goatlings, but actually loves to spend time nuzzling in soft fur of bunnies and little lambs. Nobody points that out.

"Well, why don't you go and suck Myun off, the man has been bugging me with ton of work the whole morning," Baekhyun throws back, making Chanyeol chuckle at his desk. Yixing only mockingly repeats everything that his fellow colleague said, before getting back to the paperwork. 

"That's not nice, Baek!" Luhan enters the room, setting down on Sehun's desk, and immediately picking a loose strand from the latter's turf of hair; playing with the softest strand he could find. Sehun doesn't mind it, on contrary, actually purrs under his breath, making Luhan giggle. 

"It's not my fault that he's been sleeping with the boss," Baekhyun retorts back, sharing an incredulous look from Yixing with a feigned mockery with Chanyeol, who hides his laugh behind his palm. 

"Well, if you can get some, you wouldn't be bothering the rest of us with your frigidity." That even makes Kyungsoo chuckle lightly. 

"How dare you―" Baekhyun presses a palm over his heart, holding his forehead with his free hand, ready to faint over the comment. "I thought you were my friend, my brotha―"

"All's fair in love and war." Yixing comments dryly, picking his done pile from the desk and throwing it in the corner of his work station. Baekhyun still hasn't recovered from the attack on his personality. 

"Well, consider us being in war then," 

"Okay, okay, drama queens," Luhan finally pays attention to the bickering males, getting up from Sehun's desk, missing his disappointed pout. "Let's get back to work, so that Myun doesn't have a need to have my balls in a grip. Okay?"

When the whole room - and I mean the whole room, even Yixing and Baekhyun having to - confirms that they were about to get back to work, Luhan smiles proudly for still having it, going back to his office just across this, bigger one. 

Baekhyun sends a mock smile to Yixing in the corner, even sticking his tongue out childishly, before glancing back at Kyungsoo who hisses that Luhan could still hear them. 

"What's that?" Baekhyun suddenly asks, standing up from his seat with his joints cracking satisfactorily, going up to Kyungsoo's desk on his left, and instead points to the blackboard that Kyungsoo has hooked up on the wall next to his desk. "It says 'Have a nice day!'," Baekhyun reads it out loud the line scribbled down in cursive letters, following the line with his forefinger. 

"I don't know," Kyungsoo shrugs, but stands up to see the message himself. And there, at the bottom of the square board, it's written just that, with a small smile next to the exclamation mark, just bellow his weekly planning for this week. 

"Are you leaving inspirational quotes for yourself now?" 

"What? No!? Why would I do that?" Kyungsoo asks confused, looking back to the board, and the little chalk doodle at the bottom. "Maybe somebody has something to say to me, but didn't know how..." He turns to the room, but is met with shake of heads, and even more confused looks of who the author of the note could be. 

"Looks like somebody has a little crush on you, Kyung." Baekhyun winks at him, before going back to his desk, finally picking up his report as he starts entering it in his daily log. 

Kyungsoo splutters at that, standing there dumbfounded, repeating Baekhyun's words in his mind. But when he looks back at the message, something doesn't make sense; somebody of his colleagues couldn't be liking him like that.

Nope, that must be some kind of a mistake. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day finds Kyungsoo lazing around the park of the different animals, neither of them dangerous enough to be locked away just yet. Beside, the Sun just peaked over the fluffy clouds, so everyone is out and enjoying in the warm rays, barely anyone covered in the shadows. 

He follows Chanyeol as he cracks some jokes to some monkeys - the man calling them Mandrills to get their attention - before basically laughing all by himself, not seeing when the two small primates hang on to the other branch, and easily escape him to the higher ground, away from still laughing Chanyeol. 

Kyungsoo stifles a laugh under his palm when the latter sees that his companions abandoned him for some better company of two ladies that hang from two different branches, slowly cradling each other from side to side. 

Chanyeol's been responsible for primates, as well as some of the others domesticated mammals, like ferrets and marsupials. He even had a pet ferret back at his family home when he was a kid, the little black and brown polecat encouraging him to become what he was today. 

As Chanyeol struggles to feed the two Mandrills that keep escaping him, Kyungsoo feels somebody else standing next to him, but still too far away for him to understand whether the male was there for him or for watching the scene before them too. 

"Hello, hyung," Jongin whispers into the thin air, making Kyungsoo smile softly before turning around to greet him. 

"Hello, Jongin. How are you?" This all feels like a déjà vu, since they already had a conversation like this yesterday, but this time Kyungsoo really doesn't want to see Jongin's retracting figure again. 

"I-I'm fine. You?" The latter only glances up to him, before dropping his gaze down to the ground, lifting his eyes only couple of times to catch bits of the scene of Chanyeol running around with a monkey on his shoulder. He missed the scene developing.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking. And you?" Kyungsoo winces when he realizes that he's already asked the other about his wellbeing, making a fool our of himself in the end. 

"I'm sorry for―" But Kyungsoo cuts himself off when Jongin giggles under his breath, hiding his blushing face under his long bangs. Something swells in Kyungsoo's chest when another bubbling laugh leaves Jongin's lips; sweater paws still pressing into each other. He has such a cute laugh, the one that makes you laugh as well, and Kyungsoo cracks a tiny satisfied smile too.

"Well, how do you like your stay here up until now?" Kyungsoo feels lighter when Jongin tries to stifle another wave of laughter washing his frame, going for another direction instead, actually wanting to hear it from the younger. 

"G-Good, I guess," Jongin shrugs a laconic line, before glancing through his bangs at Kyungsoo. "I've been staying in the lounge for the past two weeks, but... I get to come to you― I mean to you all, to all of you guys now, be-because my desk is being ready and... and don't get me wrong, I liked the lounge, but I always wanted to have my own desk― Oh, no. Not just my own desk, of course, since I'm here for the animals― I mean, bears! Bears! I'm here for the bears since I love them so much― But only platonically, because you can't have a relationship with a bear... Or-or you can! If you want... I mean, you can do whatever you want, you know, but―"

"That must be the longest time anybody has ever heard you talk," Kyungsoo breaks him off, sharing a look with the furiously blushing boy in front, before the said male drops his gaze back to the concrete bellow their feet, taking big gulps of air. 

"It's okay. Everything you said, I mean, I wanted that too." Kyungsoo nods to him, trying to ease up the atmosphere, but only getting wide eyes boring into his in return.

"You wanted to have a relationship with a bear?!" Jongin suddenly bolts out, rather loudly, even bringing Chanyeol's attention, who only now gets aware that he's not alone anymore, and that there's a high chance somebody else witnessed him being chased down by his own, favorite species. 

"What?! No!?" Kyungsoo yells back, but quiets down when Jongin flinches back from him. "I'm sorry for that." He apologizes just to be sure that he didn't fright Jongin in any way, before explaining himself better.

"I meant that it's okay to want to have your own desk, since the paperwork here could pile up fast, and sharing a table with other people in the office could be a hassle," He throws a small smile in the process, but that only gets him a spluttering Jongin in return. 

"Hey, it's okay." His hands wing up in defense, like he's approaching one of his penguin buddies when they are throwing tantrums, before speaking again. "And not that it counts, but I find bears to be cute enough for one to be in a relationship with them. I mean..." 

Jongin looks up this time properly, giving him a wide, and honest look, before muttering something under his breath, glancing around them two. 

"Are you―" Kyungsoo starts to ask, but just like the previous time, Jongin escapes to the other end of the park, this time actually running and stumbling over his feet, but not falling down. 

Kyungsoo winches when the boy grabs at his hair, and pulls harshly even from this distance of them being apart, before turning around to share a confused look with his friend in the monkeys' cage. 

An hour later, when he comes back to his office after checking the penguins and feeding them with yet another treat (Joonmyun actually scolds him for spoiling the birds, but Kyungsoo just can't help it), he finds another scribbled note in cursive at the top of the previous one, saying 'Thank you for being so awesome! ^.^'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their free weekend approaches faster than Kyungsoo would like. Sure, he's tired every night when he falls down over his bed, and barely finds enough strength to take a shower when sleep invades his mind. 

But he misses his penguin buddies so much, and after yesterdays hatch of two big and healthy chicks of Chinstraps penguins, a beautiful addition to their ever-growing family, he misses them even more.

He snapped some photos of the little ones when Joonmyun and Luhan weren't looking, saving the pics to his phone, and getting them ready for later, to show it to his French bulldog, Adelie, who shares a similarity with his favorite breed of penguins - Adelie penguins, of course - because of the black strap of thin fur that goes from the bulldog's head, down to his tail.

And Adelie is always welcoming him when he comes home, and even more when he cuddles with her after dinner, showing yet another batch of penguin pictures, a collection overgrowing a folder of 2k+ snaps of his little family back at the Zoo.

He stretches around the bed upon waking up, checking his bedroom window that allows Sun to openly fill up the space with its warmth and rays, as the addition to him forgetting to close the blinds the night before. 

It's still not too late for staying in bed some more, so he turns around from the windows, getting ready to sleep some more. But then hears something dull hitting on his door that he left too ajar, before the hinges warn him that the door's fully open now. Sharp, too long nails scrape over the lacquered floor, before a mop of soft, black head comes to sniff his face. He really need to cut her nails shorter.

Kyungsoo chuckles when Adelie licks him for a good morning, scooping her up and under his arm, as she digs her forepaws in the duvet, getting comfortable. She leans against him, trying to kiss him some more, before Kyungsoo really burst out laughing, pressing her close to him. 

"You pretty girl, wanting me just for you, huh." He chuckles when the dog barks, like she agrees with everything he just said. 

Kyungsoo closes his eyes, the sleep still lingering behind his eyelids, as he softly starts petting her soft fur under her chin, going up and to her snout, pecking the slobbering mess he finds there. 

"You need to have a wash, don't you." He dares to peek one of his eyes open, his girl getting it as a signal to attack again and lick him all over his face. 

Kyungsoo giggles on her sharp tongue, but soft licks, as decides that he's not having any more sleep after all. 

"So you did this on purpose, huh." Kyungsoo gets up from the bed, with Adelie in his hands, going around to his kitchen, giving her a big bowl of dog granules, before fixing him a cup of freshly brewed coffee. 

The dog barks softly when she licks the bowl clean, like she alarms him that she was being good, and eating all of her given food. Kyungsoo scoops her up again, nuzzling in the soft fur on top of her head, going for the bathroom next. 

"Let's have a quick bath, and then let me tell you about Daehyun and Youngjae that were born yesterday," He heats up the water that pours in the bathtub, getting a little, excited yelp in return.

The rest of the day passes in a hurry, almost, with him washing his bulldog, and then proceeding to take a quick bath himself. The lunch comes next quickly, Kyungsoo spending a diligent time preparing everything, craving for some home-cooked meal, that he luckily learned to make from his mother. 

After eating everything in one sitting, with Adelie nosing at his feet, dragging her cooked meal out too, Kyungsoo washes the dishes, opting for some comedy movie to relax for a bit. 

But when he cleans everything, and finally finds some movie online, the door bell rings, making his little girl bark at the newcomer. 

Kyungsoo wonders who that might be, since it's rarely for him to have some guest over, but he cradles Adelie close to his chest, sitting up and going for the door. 

He opens the door, petting her softly, afraid that she might jump up on whoever on the other side of the door is, but is met not with only one person, but a bunch of them, all smiling widely at him.

"What are you―" He dares to utter, but a strong frame pushes pass him, leading all of them into the apartment, leaving a still confused Kyungsoo by the door. 

"We came to celebrate the new chicks that were hatched into your little family," Baekhyun says, as he goes for the kitchen, probably to find glasses for the wine he's been holding, balancing three bottles easily in his arms. 

"And because you haven't been picking up your phone, we came to you." Luhan finishes as he follows his colleague close to the kitchen, dropping some snacks and a loaf of bread on the kitchen island. 

Kyungsoo follows after them, seeing Chanyeol picking up his forgotten laptop from the sofa, scrolling to find some other movie than the one Kyungsoo planned to watch with a soft smile. Next to him, Joonmyun picks up the remote control, pointing the end to Yixing by his side, the latter seemingly tired, and just ready to cuddle up with his... boyfriend?

On the opposite side, Sehun sits down on the armchair, plucking a Cheeto from the bowl of snacks that Luhan dropped down on the coffee table in front of them all, pulling the elder to sit down on the armrest, next to him. 

Kyungsoo sees them all getting comfortable around his living room, and just as he wanted to sit down as well, still confused of their visit, he sees a lean figure from the corner of his eyes. 

Kyungsoo turns around and is met with warm eyes boring holes into his own, the owner of them waiting patiently for Kyungsoo to see him. 

Jongin stands there, looking out of place, and totally uncomfortable to be there in the first place, whilst everyone else is already seated with a movie already playing on Kyungsoo's TV set. 

"Jongin, hi! Why don't you sit down?" Kyungsoo dumbly asks, pointing to the free space on the love seat on the left side of the room, but instead gets a small shake of Jongin's head in return. 

"This is the first time for me to be in your house, and I was..." Jongin trails off, but dismiss the rest of the sentence when Adelie squirms in Kyungsoo's hold, wanting to be let down to the floor. 

Jongin approaches slowly, not wanting to scare the little, pudgy creature in the other's hands, and instead of saying anything, plucks her up and to his chest instead.

"Oh my Gosh, aren't you the cutest." Kyungsoo watches the scene from the side, watching as his girl nuzzles in Jongin's sweater clothed chest, almost purring when Jongin kisses her head, caressing her sides. 

Something in his heart swells, when the male coos at the dog, laughing when Adelie starts nipping playfully at his nose. Kyungsoo hasn't seen his little girl behaving like this ever before, even with Baekhyun, who's unwearyingly persistent to spoil her with dog treats and chew toys. 

But Jongin's natural, apparently, because he even pets her stomach when the bulldog turns around on her back; Kyungsoo knowing that it's her most sensitive part, that even he's not always allowed to touch.

"She's so cute," Jongin's brought from the puppy-love when Kyungsoo comes closer to him, on intention to take a better look. His smile slips to a smaller one, as he still pets the dog in his hands, but keeping his eyes up and on Kyungsoo instead.

"She is!" Kyungsoo repeats, feeling somehow hurt that his girl choose Jongin over him for her cuddle, but still warm and fuzzy because she choose Jongin over the rest of them. "But she's never been like this," 

"Like what?" Jongin giggles again when the dog licks his face, obviously knowing that they're talking about her.

"This friendly with guests," And Kyungsoo's right, because his puppy doesn't like some of his friends, or even his father when his parents visit, his girl showing it openly. 

"Really?" Jongin asks, full of hopeful gleam coloring his brown irises, glancing up through his bangs. "Well, she must like me then." He concludes, and Kyungsoo agrees with it. 

"I guess she does."

"Hey, lovebirds, the movie's already on." Somebody breaks their little bubble, making Jongin yelp when he realizes just how close the two males were standing next to each other, and quickly (but carefully) drops the dog back in Kyungsoo's hands, going for the love seat next. 

Kyungsoo opts to stifle a laugh on the pink hue that swallowed Jongin's cheeks in matter of moments, before following behind him, sitting next to him on a narrow seat.

"This is the only free space left," Kyungsoo whispers closely to the younger's ear, and imagines Jongin shivering from it. 

They soon fall in a comfortable silence, as the movie rolls on the TV, neither of them talking. Unless something big happens and they need to clarify it for someone, because Chanyeol has put up a horror movie actually, being the self-made expert on the genre. 

Kyungsoo strokes Adelie's soft fur, his little girl cutely dozing off for about half an hour already, too comfortable and warm to move. He watches the movie, glancing around for a couple of times to see the rest of the room. 

Joonmyun has his arm dropped tightly around Yixing's shoulders, pulling the sleepy male closer to his sides. They are so focused on the movie, that they both misses the way Kyungsoo smiles fondly to see them cuddling together. On the other end of the sofa, Chanyeol has his tall figure almost bent in two, from the way his head lays across Baekhyun's chest, that slowly rises up and down. Baekhyun's pushed all the way to the crook of the sofa, but having a hand in Chanyeol's unruly locks, casually stroking the soft strands. 

Kyungsoo actually keeps a promise to talk to them tomorrow about whatever that's been happening between them, but stays silent for now. And on the other end of the room, Sehun and Luhan somehow fitted in the one-seat armchair, both of them sitting down on the cushion by now. 

Luhan must've slipped from the armrest somewhere into the movie, and now's sitting half on the younger's thigh, and the rest on the free space of the seat. 

Kyungsoo could see Sehun's dusted cheeks from here, but doesn't look at them for too long, afraid that he could get caught. 

Instead, he turns to the last person in the room, Jongin, sitting on his left side, watching the movie. But instead of watching at the screen fully, his eyes are somehow casted downwards, almost as he was watching the rim of the TV screen, too afraid to look up. 

And Kyungsoo smiles fondly at his antics, before tapping him softly on his right shoulder to get his attention. 

Jongin yelps silently at that, turning around to look at his colleague on his right side, big brown eyes boring into Kyungsoo's ones. He looks sheepishly for a moment after being caught in his little mind-game of not watching the horror movie still rolling in the background, before he glances at the floor, not meeting Kyungsoo's eyes anymore.

"Do you want me to show you something?" Kyungsoo whispers in his ear, too close to feel the warmth from the boy's body, but still too far to actually touch him. Jongin only nods, not daring to look up, and instead stands up after Kyungsoo, following closely behind him.

Neither of their friends noticed when they sneaked out of the living room - or didn't say anything - and slipped inside of Kyungsoo's bedroom instead. Adelie is still pretty much sleeping, so Kyungsoo lowers her slowly into her dog-bed by his bed, turning around to see Jongin.

But the boy's still standing at the door, clawing at the rim of his sleeves, looking everywhere but Kyungsoo. And Kyungsoo just might die from the cuteness. 

"You can sit down, I won't bite," Where that came from, Kyungsoo didn't know, but he still said it, watching as Jongin's perplexed eyes grazed him for a moment. 

So he sits down on his bed, waiting for Jongin to move and take any seat in the room, whether it's the armchair next to the closet, or his desk-chair beside the windows. 

But Jongin surprises even himself when he strolls over, sitting on the other end of Kyungsoo's bed instead.

"So.." Kyungsoo starts, suddenly very aware that they are both sitting on his bed, with nothing better to do. He wanted to pull the other out of that room, and away from the movie still playing, since Jongin looked uncomfortable watching the gore scenes of the horror. 

But now that they're here, he might think that this was a bad idea, since he didn't think this through quite well. 

"You have a nice flat," Jongin offers instead, breaking their little tight bubble, but quickly dismissing anything, as he stares at the floor still. 

"Thank you..." Kyungsoo whispers, watching for anything else that Jongin might add, but seeing him nervous just as he is. So he allows himself to watch the younger some more, following his profile, and the soft curls falling over his forehead.

Kyungsoo agrees mentally with himself that Jongin looks younger than he probably is with his coffee shade hair, that's borderline burgundy in a different light. He swears his nose is the cutest part of him, as he follows the slope to the tip of the button like curves with his eyes, until he stops to look at his pouty lips. 

Jongin's lips are so full and soft looking, that Kyungsoo finds it not fair that they're also so full of pink color too. He follows as Jongin exhales through his nose, making the pair of his lips protrude out also, looking as the male is pouting unconsciously.

Just as he gets immersed in the other, the said boy turns around to watch him instead, and their eyes behold a contact. Kyungsoo feels his insides turning mushy, as his skin prickles with a new sensation when Jongin doesn't utter a single word, but still doesn't break an eye contact.

He watches as the rich, mocha color in the middle moves to the black in the corners, giving his eyes the deepness Kyungsoo feels himself getting lost in.

"Umm.." Jongin mutters slowly, looking around the room before sharing another look with Kyungsoo across the bed.

"Hmm?" Kyungsoo hums back, too afraid to break the contact, and too immersed not to. Instead, he watches as Jongin stays quiet, mulling over his bottom lip, watching him under his thick lashes. 

"Do-do you― Um.." Jongin tries, and he really tries, but Kyungsoo's watching him so closely, that his mouth might as well be cotton by now.

"Yes, Jonginnie?" Kyungsoo's not aware of how much everything of this affects Jongin, as the latter mewls under his breath over the nickname. 

"Soo..." He wines cutely, almost like he's stomping his foot down on the laminated floor, but Kyungsoo dares to stare a bit longer.

They feel as if something is pulling them in, shortening the free space between them, and making Jongin to sit a little bit closer, meanwhile Kyungsoo's sliding over the soft duvet over his bed. 

They're suddenly sitting too close, just inches away for their knees to bump, and for them to share the same air. Neither break their eye-contact, only blinking from time to time, reminding themselves to do that. Kyungsoo sees pink hue dusting Jongin's cheeks from here, and Jongin hears a hitched breath that Kyungsoo inhales through his mouth. 

But a sudden yelp breaks their little stare-down, as Adelie barks wake from her little purple dog-bed by the side. 

Kyungsoo only glances at his little girl, seeing her stretching her paws cutely, before dropping down in a deep slumber in a minute. 

He doesn't dare to look up, already feeling Jongin's eyes boring into his side-profile, but instead stands up and walks through the door. 

Later that night, when he lays across his bed like a starfish, Adelie snuggling up to his side, Kyungsoo thinks about him. About Jongin's button nose, and his bushy eyebrows, and his plump lips. 

He dreams about those lips the same night, getting caught in the richness of his eyes like he did in real life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a couple of days after that get-together back in his place. After watching another movie after the first one - this being a comedy one, since Sehun begged to watch something else - they all said their goodbyes and went home. 

Kyungsoo walked them up to the front door, bidding his goodbyes as well, but not daring to look at Jongin, who silently put on his shoes, and went after the group. 

They haven't talked ever since, the scene from the evening repeating painfully awkward in Kyungsoo's mind, almost mocking him for his antics and the way he acted out in the end. 

But he's back at his work, spending most of his time in the penguin section, making sure that they are all well-groomed, and fed, even taking extra care of the still baby chicks of the Chinstrap penguin mama. 

He hasn't been visiting their office that much, since Jongin's got a table by the windows, just across from his own, and the male's been there more than ever. So Kyungsoo excuses himself quicker than ever, almost bolting out every day out of the office and down to the park of the Zoo, missing everyone's confused looks. 

But he prepares himself for the awkward moment to pass, boring himself with the overload of work that waits him back at his desk, but stays unfinished, since he feigns his worry for the chicks, busying every free moment with them.

Eventually, Yixing calls him back to the office, since Joonmyun's dropped another pile of paperwork for him to take care of, so Kyungsoo begrudgingly comes back, kicking off his overalls and instead stays in his black shirt and work pants combo. 

He peers around the corner of the office, watching is anyone's there, but finding it vacant of his colleagues. Kicking the door open fully, he enters with a relived sigh escaping his lips. But just as he sits down on his desk, someone stirs in front of him, as a mop of hair stands up from the desk as well, turning out that someone else is in the room after all. 

It turns out to be Jongin, as he yawns loudly, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, before stretching his arms above his head, obviously being just woken up. 

Kyungsoo clears his throat, in an attempt to voice out his presence but at the same time not wanting to scare Jongin in any way, opting to look at the top of his desk instead.

The other must've heard him nonetheless, because Jongin oh's softly, boring his eyes across their tables and at Kyungsoo who pretends to go over a folder in his hands. 

Jongin tries to talk, to say anything, but he's hella nervous to see Kyungsoo this close again, after that little encounter back in Kyungsoo's bedroom, neither of them knowing what to take from it.

But Kyungsoo's the stubborn one again, as he busies himself with another file, praying to God not to look up and catch Jongin's eyes already on him. He feels that his resistance is yielding and he's this close to stand up and talk to the boy properly. 

But just as he glances up, Jongin's already bolting out of his seat, and going for the door without any word shared.

Kyungsoo slumps down in his seat, releasing a breath he wasn't aware of holding, and instead of pulling at his hair, looks to his left to the windows, catching the blackboard from the corner of his eye.

He stands up to see the notes from before better, but gets a surprise of his life when there's something else written on the bottom of the previous doodles, the line a lot longer than anything before. 

'You're so pretty!  
So cute, even cuter than your penguins >.<'

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo really hates nightclubs.

They make him uncomfortable, and out of place whatever he does. Whether it's strolling through the massive crowd, or dancing in the center where everyone could see him, or sitting down in the secluded booth where he can't just sit calmly, and instead ends up bobbing his head awkwardly to the song he just heard, or even taking a piss in the men's bathroom, amidst different people who sometimes peer over to his urinal. 

He hates every speck of the boisterous, over-packed and just booming nightclubs that his peers love, and he doesn't know why.

So that's why he finds himself with his face plastered to his walk-in closet, groaning at the hard wood of the closet-door, waiting for Baekhyun to pick something for him to wear.

"You need to get rid of, like, half of your closet, really." Baekhyun, accompanied by Luhan, gets out of the closet, holding an arm full of his clothes, throwing everything on top of his bed. "Either it's too loose for you, or too old-looking.."

"Or penguin printed." Luhan adds, before disappearing into the closet once again, obviously searching for more choices to choose from. 

"But I don't even want to go," Kyungsoo muffles from where his face is still leaning on the closet door, his spit even slobbering his chin and a part of wood closest to his mouth. 

"Yes you do! Because we got a night off, and we need to celebrate it!" Luhan comes out with another pile of his clothes, dropping everything down with the rest of his closet. Baekhyun judges him with occasional tsk sent his way, before plucking different things from the pile, throwing almost everything down to the floor. 

"You're making me go, and I don't want to!" Kyungsoo stomps his foot down, cutely, dressed in nothing but penguin printed boxers, and plain white undershirt, obviously shredded off his clothes by his relentless friends who won't take no for an answer.

"It's nice to hang outside of work, Kyung." Baekhyun says, but doesn't raise his eyes off the pile, still throwing most of the stuff down to the floor. Kyungsoo thinks he must be preparing a pile throw away at the foot of his bed, but doesn't dwell too much on it. 

"Besides, Jongin will be there," On that, Kyungsoo stops banging his head on the hardwood door - softly, though, because he doesn't want to end up with a concussion or something - and raises his head just slightly to see if Luhan's being honest. 

His indecisive thinking doesn't get missed by the two other males in the room, as they share a look between them, but choosing to watch Kyungsoo instead.

"Well... That doesn't have to do anything with me," Kyungsoo ends up saying, but steps away from the door and instead sits down on his armchair in the corner.

"Oh, come on. We could all see that you're crushing―"

"What's Baek trying to say―" Luhan quickly cuts him off, sending a disapproving look at the said male, before looking up to Kyungsoo and whether he's caught anything. He didn't apparently, because he plays with Adelie who just woke up from her nap, the dog too lazy to move. "Is that the whole gang is gonna be there, and we cannot be completed without you."

That gets him Kyungsoo's attention, as his little girl jumps down from his lap and instead goes to nose at Baekhyun's leg. The latter coos softly at her act, knowing that she wants her treats earlier than he intended to give it to her. So while Luhan still pushes Kyungsoo to change into some party clothes, he picks her up from the floor, getting stripes of beef jerky from his back pocket.

"I don't know..." Kyungsoo sighs out for the hundredth time that evening, still going through his head about the last time they all got out, and got him pretty drunk. He still doesn't know whose sock came back home with him, caught somewhere in his own shoe. 

"Please, Kyung." Luhan begs again, even bringing his open palms in a praying manner, before picking up some sheer black dress shirt from the pile. "We found this at the back of your closet, and we just know that you would rock this!" 

Kyungsoo remembers the day that shirt was bought - by Luhan nonetheless - and shivers upon remembering how he looks in the sheer material that barely leaves anything of his torso to the imagination. But he sees his friends' pleading looks and how they're both already dressed sinfully, waiting just for him to take a leap and go with them. 

And the atmosphere in the club is already dark and murky, so nobody would be able to see that much of his chest anyway. 

Eventually, he exhales all of his nervousness out, before standing up and snatching the shirt from Luhan's grab, going for his clothes to change. 

And hears whistles being thrown after him, followed by a loud bark of his agitated girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The club doesn't turn out to be that awful after all, Kyungsoo concludes. 

Luckily, his friends agreed upon booking a booth for all of them beforehand, so Kyungsoo got to keep his pride for a bit longer, that is until some of them drag him to the dancefloor that's over-packed like always.

He sips some colorful drink this time, with a spiral pink straw hanging of the edge of the glass, a fresh lemon settled at the rim as well. It's not too strong, and he doesn't plan to drink that much, so it's not a bad situation after all. 

Baekhyun sits next to him, shaking loudly with every song that passes - but calls it dancing - with Chanyeol holding his waist protectively, moving in the similar manner. Along the booth, there's Joonmyun and Yixing making out, too engrossed into each other to see that they're not alone, and haven't been, since they all sat down at the same time. 

Sehun has pulled Luhan somewhere to the general direction of the dancefloor, a couple of minutes before, but they haven't come back yet, and Kyungsoo suddenly doesn't want to go to the bathroom though on the thought of where they could be actually. 

So that leaves the rest of them - Jongin, Jongdae, Minseok and himself - to sit down on the leather cushion of the booth, neither planning to start talking. Instead, Kyungsoo sips his drink, Jongdae talks to Minseok only, since they all sit down so closely to each other, and more because they could only hear each other in this bass fumed music. 

Jongin sits across him, but sips on his water bottle (that the whole table had to say something against it), glancing at the dance floor. 

They barely talked ever since that evening at Kyungsoo's, and frankly, he's done with it. 

They are colleagues, for fuck's sake, and they act like two hormonal teens with impeccable crushes. Kyungsoo's had it enough, so he drinks half of his drink in one go, standing up and pulling Jongin off the seat without a word. 

He pulls him through the crowd, and away from prying eyes of his friends, before stumbling in the hall by the corner, where the music dies down a bit. 

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath before turning around and dropping down Jongin's wrist from his hand. He looks up to see Jongin's eyes, but the younger's not looking at him at all, much like always. 

So he dares to move closer, pinching Jongin's jawline with his fingers, and pulls his head upwards so they could look at each other properly. 

"I'm sorry for behaving like that back then at my flat, it wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable, and to ruin your stay with us." Kyungsoo yells over the silenced but still boisterous bass of the speakers, finally finding Jongin's eyes on his face. 

"And I'm sorry for ignoring you for the past two weeks, since I felt so ashamed to put you in a situation like that and―" But before Kyungsoo could finish, Jongin nods, and pushes Kyungsoo's hand off his skin. 

It makes something strange clench in Kyungsoo's chest.

"It's fine, hyung. I made it awkward too, and I'm sorry for taking things this far. I didn't mean to be that boring all the time, and I'm sorry for making things worse." And he's doing that thing when he looks at the floor, biting his lower lips to the point of drawing blood. 

And Kyungsoo really didn't register pointing his forefinger out and pulling at the soft cushion of his lips, so that Jongin's teeth slide off the flesh, releasing the skin as its snapped back in place.

And they share that look again, where Kyungsoo can't breathe, doesn't blink and get lost in Jongin's dark orbs. It's pretty dark around them as well, but Kyungsoo still sees them in this deep atmosphere, and feels shiver running up his spine when Jongin blinks, his long lashes fanning over his flushed cheeks for a moment. 

"Um.."

"We should..." They both start at the same time, but neither breaks the eye contact.

Eventually, some other loud song plays, and Kyungsoo hears the music around them after a while, tucking his head down and nodding solemnly. "Yeah. We should. Do you dance?" He suddenly blurts out, cursing under his breath when Jongin raises his brows, the way they get lost in his bangs. 

What the hell is wrong with him? He doesn't dance, doesn't know how to, and Jongin must be thinking the same, because he suddenly ducks his head to his chest as well, smiling softly to himself. 

"..Why not?" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I luv you guys!!" Baekhyun yells from the top of his lungs, as Chanyeol tries to detach his fingers from the main door of the nightclub, pushing the petit male to climb down the stairs. 

"We luv you too, Baekkie!" Luhan yells after him, from being thrown over Sehun's shoulder, the latter looking drunk as them two, but still being careful in carrying his hyung. 

"Guys, let's do this again!" Apparently, Joonmyun's drunk also, since he drags Yixing by his hand, skipping two stairs in the same time, and almost plastering face down on the hard concrete at the bottom. But luckily, Yixing pulls him up in his embrace just in time, excited Joonmyun giggling into his neck. 

Everyone's shitfaced this time, except Kyungsoo and Jongin who call them all separate cabs, and try to balance everyone on their feet, as they wait for their rides to arrive.

Kyungsoo doesn't hate this night that much in the end, when he looks back at his friends. They are all drunk out of their minds, grabbing for each other and smooching each other goodbye when three separate cabs arrive for them. Jongdae and Minseok ditched them some while ago, saying how they were too tired to stay longer, and bidding their goodbye until the work on Monday morning. 

And everyone - still pretty much sober at that time - choose not to see Minseok's hand stuck in the back of Jongdae's pants. 

But Kyungsoo got to dance with Jongin at some moment into the night, with both of them sticking to their light drinks, and not getting this drunk as their friends. 

Jongin sipped on his water the whole time they've been at the club, and Kyungsoo felt some of the alcohol buzzing in his system, enough to push him further and into asking Jongin for a dance. 

Well, that dance turned out to be the most awkward stage of their weird friendship-building so far, since Kyungsoo's got two left foot instead of normal pairs, and Jongin couldn't coordinate his moves even if his life depended on it. 

But they had fun, after all, moving totally not in the same rhythm as the music, swaying from side to side when some house music dropped the beat, and even trying to follow whatever the crowd was doing, with their dubbing and thrusting, like Chanyeol'd explained the dance moves.

As they push the drunk couples into the different cabs, and say to each and every driver where to drive, Jongin and Kyungsoo realize that they didn't fetch a cab for them too, and erupting in a loud laugh in a realization. 

"How did we miss it?" Kyungsoo wipes a stray tear running from the corner of his eyes, just as Jongin shrugs, starting to laugh once again. 

"So, what now?" 

They calm down after a minute or two, sharing a look full of mirth. 

"Why don't we just walk? It's a pretty night." Kyungsoo offers, and Jongin's quick to agree, even daring to pinch Kyungsoo's elbow and pull his hyung off the curb. 

They learned soon after that they live pretty close, just two streets away from each other, so this has some practical share as well. 

"So.."

"Yeah.." Kyungsoo says, slowly strolling down the street, his hands swaying in the same stance as Jongin's walks by his side. 

"Why do you love bears so much?" Kyungsoo asks instead, glancing up to Jongin and a small smile that dances across his face.

"Well.." The younger starts, and even chuckles at something, before speaking. "When I was little, my mom used to call me Nini Bear, so that stuck with me. She used to say that I was as cute and cuddly as a bear, so that got me thinking about bears in a different light."

"Really? Nini Bear?" Kyungsoo laughs at that, obviously teasing Jongin for the cutest nickname he's ever heard.

"Hey! It's cute, okay," Jongin pouts, trying to defend himself, but only making everything worse. 

"Yeah, it's cute. And it suits you so―" Kyungsoo slaps a hand over his mouth, even though he didn't say anything forbidden or anything like that, but still feeling a blush creeping out from under his collar. 

Jongin doesn't say anything, only stifles a smile while kicking some imaginery stones from his path, his sweater paws finding a way back at the tip of his fingers.

"Um.."

"Why do you like penguins then?" Jongin suddenly asks, easing up the atmosphere, and navigating the conversation in a different direction. 

"Oh!" Kyungsoo's face lights up like a child's one on Christmas Eve, and Jongin tries not to coo at the sight. "I have so many reasons for that!"

"Share some with me,"

"Well, okay. Hmm, where do I start...?" Kyungsoo presses a finger to his chin, deep in thought apparently, as he searches for some answer. 

"They are cute, and pudgy and cuddly, and they don't even fly, but have big and strong wings, and they're so clumsy, it's really cute. Did you know that they sneeze when they excrete the excess of saltwater that they ingest during eating?" 

Jongin laughs at that, because, of course that Kyungsoo knows stuff like that, and the younger could clearly see where his enchantment for the flightless birds lies. He clears his throat, remembering that Kyungsoo asked him something, before shaking his head a no.

"Really? Well, did you know that Emperor penguins have the widest variety of vocalizations of all penguins. It is believed that because they don't have fixed nest sites and must rely on vocal calls alone to find their chicks and mates."

Jongin laughs as Kyungsoo's eyes sparkle when he speaks of his penguin family, and finds it agonizingly hard not to pinch his stuffed cheeks. 

"Oh yeah!? Well, bears can see colors. I bet your birds can't see that."

Kyungsoo feigns a gasp, followed by a palm across his heart. "Well, penguins pant like dogs to cool off. They also ruffle their feathers and hold their wings away from their bodies too, and that's so cute!" 

"Polar bears' skin under their fur is black!" Jongin stuck out his tongue, because Kyungsoo paused at that, obviously not knowing that after all. 

But the younger sees Kyungsoo glancing from the corner of his eyes, with lips pulled in a thin line, obviously contemplating what to say next.

"Penguins have a different way to attract a mate. King Penguins, for example, sing long songs with their partners. Gentoo Penguin males give their mates gifts of small pebbles or stones." Kyungsoo smiles victoriously when he remembers something that Jongin must've not known, but his smile falters when the younger beats him with another fact about his favorite animals. 

"Male bears are called boars, and female bears are called sows. Oh, and female bears can give birth during the hibernation period, and are roused when doing so." 

They are close to Kyungsoo's building by now, but neither of them realize it yet, thinking about what to say next. 

"Penguins are monogamous, and they mate for life!" Kyungsoo all but yells back, almost scaring Jongin with his foot stomping on the ground, his fists clenched beside his body. Jongin really really wants to hug him.

"There are bears small as a size of a large dog, and they are called Sun bears because of a blond chest patch of fur that looks like a setting sun."

"Oh yeah, well, penguins often slide, or toboggan, on their tummies, and they do it for fun. If that isn't the cutest thing ever―"

"You are the cutest thing ever!" Jongin cuts him off suddenly, sharing his thoughts out loud on accident. He winces as he feels his cheeks heating up, even his ears burning up from what he just said, so he doesn't dare to look to the side, where Kyungsoo's probably judging him hard. 

But Kyungsoo actually tries not to laugh, everything dying down in his throat that he wanted to say about anything, as the corner of his lips draw up, before splitting in a wide, heart-shaped smile. 

"I think you're cute too." He whispers hurriedly, and doesn't wait for an answer from Jongin, as he quickly crosses the street and bolts to his building, scurrying up the stairs. 

And Jongin just stands there, not being able to move or call after him, as he watches Kyungsoo's retracting figure going away to the entrance hall, before cracking a shy smile, cupping his red cheeks with a giggle at the tip of his tongue.

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing in the morning that Kyungsoo does, when he arrives at work, is checking up on his new chicks. The babies are still small to go in the water by themselves, since their fur isn't waterproof yet, so they must stay out of the water for safety reasons. 

Even though he's sure that Hyolyn would we be a good mother to her chicks, he still needs to make sure that they're all well taken care of, fed and well nurtured in this early stage of their lives. 

So he quickly changes into his work clothes, taking his gumboots with him, as he walks barefoot to their office, leaving everything else on top of his desk. 

"Good morning, hyung!" Jongin waves at him when he walks in, his own desk covered with different files and photos of their newcomer, grizzly bear named Jooyoung, that arrived earlier today from another Zoo from upstate. 

"Good morning, Nini," Kyungsoo snickers when Jongin's eyes widened at that, quickly clearing out his throat, and glancing at the rest of their colleagues, and whether they've heard what Kyungsoo'd called him. 

"We heard it!" 

"Yup!" 

Both Baekhyun and Yixing comment from the sides, not tearing their eyes from their desk-computers, but still smirking up to the still smiling Kyungsoo. 

"How's work?" Kyungsoo asks Jongin in particular when he sits down and puts on his boots. 

"Oh, my God. It's been horrible!" Baekhyun gives up from his work, turning around to Kyungsoo, ready to spill his worries and duties instead of the asked boy. "I've been here since 4 AM, because Joonmyun wanted to make sure that the cages of Bobcats are clean by the time our visitors came, but I was there alone, cleaning after their poo and whatnot. And my precious Taeyeon got sick last night, so she's been throwing up like crazy."

"It's not okay to have favorite animals, Baek." Yixing comments dryly, clearly not interested in the talk, but still following the content of the conversation nonetheless.

"Oh, yeah! Well, tell that to your favorite bunny Suho, then. I keep hearing you cooing to him every day." Baekhyun scoff in defense, waiting for Yixing to say anything. 

"Guys!" Kyungsoo tries to break them apart, but fails miserably. 

"That-that's not―" Yixing splutters on that, clearly not expecting that answer. 

"Guys!!" 

"I know it all. I can hear you every day when you coo to it, and then say how he's your good boy― and let me tell you something, Xing, that's awfully deranged from you."

"GUYS!!" Kyungsoo yells, startling everyone in the office, but not Sehun who simple says "Isn't Myun your bunny?" 

"Oh my God!!" Baekhyun covers his ears hurriedly, wanting to erase everything that he just heard. 

"Wait, Baekhyun heard you dirty-talking to Myun all this time?" Chanyeol asks, as everything settles down for everyone. 

Everyone hold their breaths, waiting for Yixing to say something, but the boy only shrugs, nodding to the question in the end. 

"That's disgusting! There are kids - and not to mention animals - present here every day!" Baekhyun comments offended before standing from his seat and walking away from the room altogether. 

"But I was only asking Jongin about his day," Kyungsoo shyly admits, but doesn't get heard by anybody. 

 

 

 

 

 

When he comes back to his office, he finds another message doddled next to his desk, but this time with a little drawing of penguins on the bottom of his blackboard. He quickly drops everything down, before coming closer to read it properly. 

'Hope you have a nice day!   
I'll be thinking of you! (´ ∀ ` *)'

And Kyungsoo giggles at the image of penguin in a bikini, balancing a what seems to be a straw hat on top of its head. He quickly snaps a photo of the note, before anyone else catches him doing it, before sitting down and instead admiring the photo and not the note itself.

"Hey, buddy." Luhan nods his head as he walks pass their office and steps in his own. 

"Luhan, can I ask you something?" Kyungsoo catches up to him before he can close the door behind him, and motions for Kyungsoo to have a seat across his desk.

"What seems to be the problem?" 

Whenever some of them go and ask him for a piece of advice, Luhan switches to his umma Lulu persona, where he grabs his reading glasses, and perches them up on his nose, already looking for his memo pad somewhere on the bottom of his desk drawer. Why does he need it, nobody knows, but it has to do something with the consultants having one in the movies.

When Kyungsoo sees a pad being pulled out and glasses already perched up, Kyungsoo realizes where this could go. 

"No, no. I don't need anything like that," He points to the pad, following it with his eyes, as Luhan pots defeated, lowering it down to his desk.

"Okay, fine. You may start."

"Well, I was wondering..." Kyungsoo scratches his nape hair, suddenly hyper aware of the question he has to ask.

"Share with me, child!" Luhan starts, but quickly pulls his glasses off his face, muttering under his breath how Kyungsoo's too cute to be menacing. 

"Have you.. Maybe.."

"Oh, ask already―"

"Do you know who's been leaving my messages on my board!?" Kyungsoo blurts it all out, waiting for Luhan to say anything. 

"Well.." And he has that little minx smile on his face, obviously in need to tease the poor colleague some more, but holding it in for Kyungsoo to be desperate.

"If you don't know, don't be like that!" Kyungsoo stands up, ready to leave, when Luhan stops him in track.

"Wait!" Luhan stands up as well, ushering Kyungsoo to sit down, before going for the door and snapping it shut. 

"I've may or may not heard some things..."

"Things?!" That surely piques Kyungsoo's interest, as he slides off to the edge of his seat, waiting for Luhan to say something.

"Yes, yes..." He trails off, picking up his glasses and placing them on the bridge of his nose again. "There was a story within these walls, as you may know.." Kyungsoo shakes his head, eyes wide like saucers. "Yes, yes.." Luhan repeats again, turning around just a bit, looking through the windows. "You see, this Zoo's held so many stories - mystery stories as you wish - and more than enough love stories.."

Kyungsoo's grabbing at the desk in front, all ears as he listens to whatever Luhan has to say next.

"And while many of them had labored feelings, and endings―"

"Bad endings?" Kyungsoo whispers.

"Oh, very bad, my child." Luhan only nods. "But not all of them, as you must conclude. Not every fable has gotten to the point of where it was impossible to participants and creators to live to another day, but.."

Kyungsoo's eyes gaunt back to the slits instead of bulging out, as Luhan touches his heart over his shirt, his eyes getting lost somewhere in the distance.

"There was a story about the two people, madly in love with each other, until a curse broke them apart. The girl had a locket, a blue stone, that she wanted to give it to her darling, but she never got the chance.."

"Why?" Kyungsoo asks not even listening anymore, only to encourage Luhan some more. He knows where this's going, and frankly - he's not amused.

"Oh, my dear child.." Is that a tear sliding down Luhan's cheek?! "Because her chosen one left her too early.. Leaving her to stay alone her whole life, and allowing the sea to claw his lifeless body, as the Lady watched it all, not being able to do anything―"

"Are you talking about Titanic?" Kyungsoo suddenly asks, raising his brows high up. Luhan splutters on that, turning around to watch Kyungsoo again, before lowering his glasses from his face, muttering a small 'yes' under his breath.

"So you don't know who's been leaving me messages?"

"...No.." Luhan whispers again, glancing up to Kyungsoo like a child that has just being scolded for something, before playing with his fingers on his lap.

"Unbelievable." Kyungsoo stands up, and leaves for his office, not even finding the name of person who's been making him smile for couple of week with their notes and drawings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He rounds around the corner, waving slowly to Jongdae who pets some giraffe to the back of the garden, so that he could lock her up for a couple of minutes, as he clears out her cage, and cleans everything. 

Kyungsoo giggles when the giraffe bumps her head with Jongdae's, like she's thanking him for the following clean up, but walking to the back nonetheless.

He needs to check upon his penguin buddies, since he's having some more hours at work, before going home to his bulldog, planning to show her some more photos of the penguins that he's snapped today. 

The cage of the penguins is calm, like they're all hiding behind high stones, or slumbering somewhere around the concrete. The water of the pond is quiet when he closes the gate, and he can see a couple of them lazing around, sprawled out on the top of the dull wall next to the pond, and the rest of them hiding.

He goes around the big stone on his left, going to the crevice in it, where he knows little chicks like to sleep around. Little yelps wait for him when he kneels down, two little chicks nipping at his shoes, obviously wanting to play. 

There's no sign of their parents, as far as Kyungsoo could see, so he rubs their backs fondly, adding some pets on their heads as well. 

"Where is everyone, hm?" He asks no one in particular, but still looks at the little chicks at his feet, giggling when they bump into each other, falling down in a tumble of pudge and wings. 

He leaves them be, sneaking a couple of small squids for them to feast on, before standing up and slowly walking around in search for the others.

But just as he comes out in the open, a colony of different penguins attack him, playfully running towards him, and nuzzling into his shoes. 

Kyungsoo tries not to fall down, and actually hurt anybody, and instead laugh as they all nip his overalls, clearly missing him.

"I've been missing you too, guys." He coos at the adorable sight of dozen penguins fighting over who gets to come closer to their keeper, and bends down to pet as many of them as he can.

But they all flock around in a mass of pudges and black and white, so Kyungsoo cradles different part of bodies, barely staying standing on his feet.

Just as he tries to sit down and hug them all, Minseok appears by the penguin cage, calling for him in a hurried and panted breath.

"What's going on?"

"The new bear's in some kind of danger, and we're all needed there. Jongin's trying to help him!" Minseok says in one breath, waiting for Kyungsoo to get out and close the cage door, before running down on the other side of the park.

When they arrive, they see all of their colleagues standing behind the railing, all of them worried and out of breath. Kyungsoo follows their eyes, and sees Jongin and Sehun standing on the other side of agitated bear, that claws the air, obviously in a lot of pain. 

"What happened?" Kyungsoo comes closer to the cage, following the scene too. 

"They heard the loud groans coming from the cage, and they found him standing on his hind legs." Joonmyun answers quickly, carefully watching as Jongin approaches the injured animal, but the bears only comes for the attack.

Luckily, both of their colleagues - currently at the bear cage - back off, leaving the bear to lower down, whimpering in pain. 

"We need the tranquilizer! Quick!" Jongin hisses through his teeth, Sehun leaving him alone for the time to fetch a gun, and get everything ready.

Kyungsoo watches without breathing, as Sehun comes back with a tranquilizer gun, throwing it to Jongin who catches it with ease, already aiming for the bear.

The gun goes off moments after, hitting the bear straight in his chest, everybody waiting for something to happen.

"This will make him disoriented, and not put him down to sleep, so we can exam him, and see what's the problem." Jongin lowers the gun down, telling everything to Sehun, but still saying it loud enough for everyone to hear. 

They all say nothing, as the bear starts growling little softer, slowly sliding down to the ground. Just as his head hits the dirt, Jongin and Sehun approach slowly, the former holding a medical bag, lowering it down as they both crouch next to the besotted bear.

"We need to be quick, because this wears off rapidly, so hand me everything that I ask for, okay?" Jongin eyes the bear, and the way he groans from the pain, barely moving by now. Sehun only nods, taking the bag from him, and instead rummages inside for everything. 

"He has a wound on his left paw," Jongin exams the animal, going slowly through his fur, trying to find anything else that needs to be taken care of. "And a little cut on his left shoulder, so we need to take care of that."

Sehun nods again, words getting caught in his throat, not daring to say anything. Instead, he's aware that the still alive, and very much awake, bear is laying down before them, and can attack any time now. 

But Jongin doesn't hear anything else, only having his attention on the injured mammal, as he inspects his fur further down his body.

"Give me a washcloth!" Jongin orders, offering his hand to the back where Sehun crouches, waiting patiently, while petting bear's fur along his arm.

Sehun drags a bottle of water from his pouch, wetting the cloth, and giving it to Jongin's hand, the latter applying it to the wound. 

Bear growls pathetically, while Jongin cleans the cut the best he can out in the open like this, with not a single artificial light to graze his movements. And all that while muttering encouraging things to the animal.

"Shh, it hurts, I know. But you're a big bear, a tough one. This little cut is nothing for you." 

Kyungsoo watches from the side as Jongin cleans around the cut, being careful not to press any pressure to the wound, softly speaking as well. Something swells in his chest when the bear tries to claw at the man, but Jongin's quick to push his arm down, petting the soft fur.

"Give me the electric clippers," He commands next, and when Sehun nudges it in his arm, he clicks it on, lowering the wireless device to cut around the wound. Jongin clears out the slit as close and as precise as he could, because the bear keeps trashing around from the burning sensation, so Jongin works fast.

"Mix salt and water." And Sehun does, adding a couple of spoons of salt into a bowl, before drowning everything in warm water, mixing the liquid with a spoon. He fills up the syringe from the medical bag to the rim, and passes it to Jongin, who immediately squirts the mix on the cut. 

He repeats it until it's clean from debris, and blood, being careful with the sensitive tissue. He uses the same towel from before to collect the excess of water, before turning back to Sehun once again.

"We need to disinfect the wound. Do you know how much of Povidine Iodine you have to mix in water?" Sehun nods, before continuing with his task. They rinse out the wound again, before adding a new mix to disinfect it all. 

Next comes the gauze and Sehun's already holding a clean one with his gloved hands, allowing Jongin to take as much as he needs as he pats the wound dry, being extra careful with the pressure. They finish up with antibiotic cream before applying a fresh gauze over the patch, securing it with some medical tape, and moving on to repeat the process on the smaller cut on the bear's shoulder.

They come out of the cage after awhile, talking about what antibiotics to give to the animal, and share a plan on how frequent to visit for the usual check-ups.

"Oh my God! That was so awesome!" Baekhyun's louder than usual, patting both Jongin and Sehun on the backs for a job well done.

Soon they all follow, congratulating Jongin for keeping his cool, and Sehun for getting everything ready. They all chatter up to the office, Jongin glancing back to his injured bear, and saying how he will rouse up after a couple of hours.

"I can believe that they sent him to us wounded." Joonmyun seethes as they all walk back to their main office, everyone sitting down by their desks, or choosing to stand instead.

"Have they even conducted one last exam before tranquilizing him and shipping him here?" Chanyeol asks from his seat, and nobody speaks anything. 

They all could've been in a serious danger if they didn't react earlier, and the animal could've been in even bigger danger if that wound haven't been properly dealt with, and instead left to be infected. 

And they all understand Joonmyun's anger, because it wasn't their fault in the first place, and their boss wouldn't be able to forgive himself if they've lost an animal or one of the employees over this.

So he dismiss everyone back to their jobs, before going for his office, already planning on calling the previous Zoo that kept the grizzly bear, and probably preparing a hefty law-suit as well.

"Well, you've been awesome, Jongin." Sehun pats him on his back, before going after their boss too. Yixing's already left after his boyfriend, and so the rest of them go back to their desks, excitement still coursing through their veins. 

"You were so brave, I can't believe it!" Chanyeol claps for him from his desk, and Baekhyun offers two thumbs up when he smiles sheepishly, hiding his blush.

"Thanks guys, but it was nothing. That's just my job," Jongin tries, but Luhan pats him on his shoulder, sharing some encouraging words as well.

"We need to celebrate this as it befits!" Their manager sends after his shoulder, almost everyone agreeing upon the suggestion. 

Sehun comes back, pulling Luhan back in the room, as they all have a heated discussion of their next get-together, all of the participants having different ideas.

Jongin ignores them completely - even though they all talk about the celebration for his work - and instead looks up to where Kyungsoo's sitting silently. 

It was like the elder was waiting for Jongin to look at him, because he jerks his head towards the exit, silently inviting the younger to follow him outside.

And soon after, them two ditch their colleagues, taking a stroll through the Zoo park, walking side by side.

"You know," Kyungsoo suddenly breaks their little bubble of silence. "What you did there, was really noble." 

"Noble?" Jongin chuckles at the elder's choice of words, but waits for him to say something else.

"Well, divinely, unnerving but still unearthly. Oppressive but still picturesque. A true venture for someone so plausible to do the God's work―"

"Okay, now you're only stringing tough words you know." 

They both share a laugh at that, mirth dancing across their eyes, as they settle down on a bench under the Pine tree.

"But really, it was really great what you did there." 

Jongin smiles shyly to his lap, the praises coming from Kyungsoo having a different effect on him. He glances back up toward the elder male, finding Kyungsoo's soft eyes already on him, before succumbing to his look and soft smile dancing across his features. This kind of smile makes Kyungsoo look even younger than he is, and so much cuter that Jongin thinks his heart can't take it anymore.

"Thanks, hyung." He whispers soon after, watching the scenery in front of them instead of making yet another eye contact with the ethereal being next to him. 

Kyungsoo makes everything much more easier, but at the same time his breathing labored, and Jongin can't keep up with it anymore.

"Hyung.." He says after a couple of moments of silence, bringing Kyungsoo's waiting eyes back on him, as the said male hums for him to continue.

"H-have you figured out who's been drawing on your board yet?" He opts to ask instead, his tongue getting tied as his lungs couldn't push the real question out.

"Ah," Kyungsoo starts in a realization. "No, not yet. And I've been dying to find out who the culprit was."

That makes something clench painfully in Jongin's tummy, as he swallows down heavily. "Culprit?" He asks, hoping that Kyungsoo meant it in a funny way.

"Yeah, like the one who's been messing with me like that," Kyungsoo simple concludes, and misses Jongin's hurt eyes dropping down to the concrete.

"Why-why do you―"

"Why do I think that this was someone pulling my leg?" Jongin only has enough strength to nod. "Well, because I find it funny that somebody could mess with me like this, but stay silent for so long."

Jongin might puke right there and then.

"And Baek said that that certain someone's been harboring a crush on me, but that's not real."

"N-not real?" 

Kyungsoo nods. "Yeah, because it's funny that somebody could like me like that," And he laughs softly, tearing his eyes from baby fawns running before them, and instead looks back at Jongin, but the boy is no longer there, and instead running back to their office building. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo comes back from his usual visit in the penguin compartment, ditching his leather overalls, as he sits down on his desk, some paperwork waiting for him patiently. 

It's been a couple of weeks since their new bear got his treatment from Jongin, and the bear's been recovering nicely. 

Jongin and Sehun's been visiting him daily, changing his compress gauzes, and giving him medication so that the animal didn't catch any infection. Even Kyungsoo's been visiting him, sharing some talks with him that his penguin buddies didn't get to listen, and asking whether the fellow was alright.

He's developed a habit to talk with other animals around the Zoo, asking for their days and their love lives. Kyungsoo knows that some of the workers see him differently when he gets caught talking to the animals like they could understand him, and even talk back, but he dismiss it all, enjoying in his talks more than ever.

Truthfully, he pays extra attention to Jongin's patient, since the bear somehow reminds him of his fellow colleague, and he misses Jongin's presence.

It's not that they don't hang out anymore - which they do - but it seems that something lacks, and Kyungsoo isn't even able to pinpoint what.

Jongin's still been a stuttering mess whenever they talk, but he somehow talks even less than before. The younger's been going out with the rest of them when Kyungsoo opted to stay at home, and even refused Kyungsoo's invites to the movies or to grab a cup of coffee after work.

Somehow, Kyungsoo misses his pink cheeks, and longing eyes, and he dares to admit it all to Jooyoung, the bear, as he leans on the railings, overlooking the bear. 

There were not new messages after the last one that simple said 'You looked so adorable today, I barely contained not to kiss you!', but that one was couple of weeks before, and Kyungsoo kinda misses them.

He checks the board every day for new messages, but only find the previous ones, the ones he still haven't wiped away.

His whole board is covered with different sizes notes, even covering his weekly schedule, so Kyungsoo opted to entry everything to his phone instead. He looks up, re-reading everything once again, even though he has them all snapped and saved in his phone, reading them over and over again when he can't fall asleep.

'You look beautiful today! :)'

'I wish to talk to you freely...'

'That shirt that you wear is so cute, it makes me blush whenever I look at you'

'Smile, Soo. Your smile can light up the world...'

'You're what dreams are made of.'

'You're my happy place, Soo..'

'I wanted to kiss you today, so badly..'

'I smile when you talk. c:'

'You had me at hello. ^^'

'Mine!'

.

.

.

.

 

'I'm sorry for everything.'

The last one leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, as he focuses back at his work, trying to swallow his sadness down. He doesn't understand it, but everything stopped with the last note that'd been left, and he misses it so much. He used to wake up excited to try and find a new message on his board, but lately it's been none, and he doesn't know why did it stop. 

Nobody has said anything to him, and nobody has come clean about messing with him, so he mulls over what Baekhyun said back then, thinking it over and over in his head.

If someone wanted to confess to him through notes, then they were doing a great job, since Kyungsoo's been obsessing over the doodles of fat penguins and little hearts added to the corners. He wanted to find out who did it all, who paid enough attention to him almost every day, leaving different messages for Kyungsoo to smile, giggle and even blush upon reading it.

But now that he thinks about it, he misses the reason why that certain someone stopped writing and he really thinks hard. In the end, Kyungsoo goes back to his work, heaving a deep sigh, as he tears his eyes off the board once again, and totally misses someone's eyes following his every move from across the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another day, and nothing added to the board.

Kyungsoo looks defeated on his way to his penguin buddies, counting his steps to there, and even missing excited Yixing waving at his direction.

He checks the chicks first, going out to grab the metal bucket, before getting them all treats, like every other day.

They all flock around him, impatient to get some, before gulping the fishes down, asking for more.

Kyungsoo smiles fondly as he empties the bucket, showing it to them also, when they all nip at his feet for more, before going back to the pound begrudgingly. He gets to pet some of them, cradling their soft fur, before locking up and walking further down to the park. 

His path winds him back to the Jooyoung's cage, where the bear lays lazily around, but looks up when Kyungsoo leans on the railings of the cage.

"How are you feeling today?" He asks, but gets no answer in return, since Jooyoung's an animal, and he doesn't know how to talk, of course. But Kyungsoo still chuckles, nodding to himself, before offering another question.

"Have you heard that you're getting a female bear soon? Oh, what are they called..." He trails off, thinking of when Jongin talked about different bear facts, remembering something along those lines. "Oh, sows! That's right. You're getting a sow soon, for mating and stuff.." He blushes when the bear stands up, like knowing what Kyungsoo's been talking, clearly interested in whatever the human had to say.

"I'm not talking about that with you! You're still a baby." He corrects, but the bear still looks up towards him. "Besides, when the time comes, you would be brave enough to act like a man, and conquer your loved one." 

He's getting wistful with this, and the animal doesn't understand anything, but he just rumbles on.

"Did you know that you could see colors? Of course you did know that, since you see me in color right now," He chuckles to himself. "And did you know that polar bears have dark skin, and white fur?" The bear loses the interest somewhere in the middle of his talk, and instead goes to the nearest tree to scratch his back.

"I wouldn't be listening to me either, if I was you.." Kyungsoo smiles sadly, Jongin's face popping into his mind, and everything that has happened with the younger up until now.

"You're close with Nini, right?" The bear still doesn't react. "Has he been telling you anything about me? About us?"

Kyungsoo looks up to the animal, but Jooyoung only groans, like dismissing Kyungsoo's question.

"Of course he hasn't. I don't matter to him.." He doesn't get a reaction this time.

"But do you know how much he likes you guys? He has different drawings of your species in his notebook, and he draws little doodles of you almost every day," Kyungsoo smiles fondly upon remembering when Jongin showed him his blank pages filled with different drawings of different animals, but mostly bears. Even some penguin doodles snuck in as well.

"And he's so cute when he concentrates, his tongue peeking out from the side, in deep thought as he draws.." Kyungsoo chuckles at that, peering up to see the bear listening to him again. 

"He even tried to draw me one time, but he didn't make it 'till the end, because I had to pee really badly, and then somehow work got in the way of finishing it.. He was so cute and the drawing wasn't that bad. It was actually prettier than I am in real life, could you imagine that... He must've seen something more behind my wide eyes,"

Kyungsoo remembers that day, a couple of weeks ago, when they strolled through the park, with nothing better to do. Jongin just had showed him his drawing, rather apprehensive at first, afraid that Kyungsoo would mock or hate his sketches, but eventually blinding him with his smile when Kyungsoo praised his work. 

"And he has this habit of forming sweater paws― but not animal paws like you, since that's not possible, but small fists when he grabs the hem of his sleeves with his fingers, twisting it over his digits. It's rather cute if you think about it.."

But the bear didn't, obviously, and for the first time, Kyungsoo felt silly for talking to an animal.

"I don't know why I'm even talking to you about this, since you can't understand how human emotions work, and it doesn't mean anything to you when I say that I like him―" That was the first time, ever, to say it out loud, Kyungsoo realizing his feelings right now as well. Talking to a bear, nonetheless.

"Oh my God, I like him! I like Jongin!" He said it again, exhaling a breath he wasn't aware of holding, before grabbing the railing, and swinging over it. 

"I like Jongin! Did you hear that? I like him, I really like him!" When he yelled rather loudly, the bear growled from his position, making Kyungsoo snap out of his revelation, muttering a soft 'I'm sorry' under his breath.

He bid Jooyoung goodbye, before skipping to their office building with a hop in his step. He wanted, no, needed to find Jongin and tell him everything, because those feelings were brewing for so long in his system, making him crazy with want.

When he entered their shared office, he found it void of anyone, but that didn't stop him from grabbing his stuff, and clearing out everything before walking outside to find the wanted man.

But before he could walk away from his desk, a sudden change caught his attention, as he lowered his bag down, and walked closer to the neatly written board on the wall.

He read the first line carefully, and realized that his previous notes were wiped off, and that something with a form similar to a poem was written there at the center instead.

'Kyungsoo-hyung,  
When I first got here, you were so adorably awkward with your introduction and stuttering, while I learned the reason to it afterwards, when they showed me the pictures and videos of your drunk self spilling some glitter over yourself, that you stole from Baekhyun-hyung's collection of makeup. You were so cute while giggling in that one photo, so I forgive you for not remembering my name in the first try afterwards..

Something made me think about you all the time, making me even more   
shy and conscious of my behavior around you, so I tried to watch you from afar. So I started leaving all those drawing and little notes on your board, because I couldn't think of anything else.

You were so careful and thoughtful as you took care of your little penguin  
family, as you used to call them, but I couldn't stay away anymore.   
I had to get closer to you and get to know you better, because I had a feeling I   
was slowly losing my mind because of you..  
When you said my name for the first time, you made it all much worse, since  
something made me feel hot and warm all over my body, just by watching you   
smiling.

And when I talked to Joonmyun-hyung about it, he said it must be a crush.  
I never had something like that, and I was scared of getting to know you, but losing you in the end..  
I wanted to be with you all the time, just watching you, or hearing you laugh   
or sing.. I caught you sometimes singing to your penguin buddies, and that was the first time to be jealous of another animal >.<  
But what I'm trying to say is - I like you, hyung! So much, and I can't keep it   
bottled up any longer.

When you said how bears are cute enough to be in a relationship with one, you bought me completely. And when you said I was cute too, I wanted to burst out of myself from happiness.  
You were nothing but polite and good to me, always waiting for me to get myself together and say everything that I wanted, even though it took me longer to say it.

And every time you looked at me, I felt myself getting lost in those black orbs, always craving for more, for more of you..   
When I talked to Yixing-hyung about it, he explained how that must be love.

And again, I was scared. Because if that meant that I fell in love with you, that also meant that I have a lot more to lose. 

I finally took enough courage to confess everything to you, back then, when Jooyoung needed saving, and I felt like all of the life was sucked out of me when you said that you find it crazy that someone could like you..

That's why I'm saying it now, and like this-  
I love you, Do Kyungsoo!  
Haven't realized how much yet, but I know why I fell in love with you in the first place, and why I would keep on loving you..

I'll be waiting for your answer in the penguins compartment, so whenever you're ready..

\- Jongin

 

Kyungsoo felt all of his being being on fire, electricity making him shiver and shake when he read it all. 

Everything made sense now, and Kyungsoo felt like a fool for ever doubting him.

He scurried out of the building, leaving all of his stuff behind, before running further down to the park and to his little family waiting for him.

When he rounded the corner, Jongin was standing in the middle of penguin park, the little creatures nipping around his feet, but leaving him alone once Kyungsoo entered as well, leaving them alone. Like they knew the meaning of it all.

"I fell in love with you because of your smile and laugh," Jongin smiled down to him, starting slowly. He wasn't stuttering, and Kyungsoo smiled brightly.

"I fell in love with you because of your warm eyes, and deep looks," Kyungsoo slowly approached him, but Jongin continued.

"I fell in love with your kind heart and beautiful mind," They were almost standing in front of each other by now, but Jongin had to say it all.

"I fell in love with you that night when you said that penguins mate for life,"

"I fell in love with you because you always smiled, and that could make me forget about everything else," Kyungsoo was still silent, tears brimming at the rim of his eyes, but Jongin kept going.

"I fell in love with you when I realized that I want to share every little detail with you, no matter what it was," 

"I fell in love with your way of looking at me, of your hand in mine, of our quiet time," They were standing face to face now, and Kyungsoo could see Jongin swallowing down thickly, before continuing. 

"I fell in love with you when I missed you every moment we weren't together.."

"I fell in love with you―"

But before Jongin could spill something else, Kyungsoo grabbed him by his shirt, and tiptoed to get closer to him. The last thing he saw was Jongin's wide eyes shutting close, before their lips pressed together in a soft kiss.

Kyungsoo sighed out at his lips, when Jongin kissed him back, smiling into the pair of lips molding together, both of them losing their heads within it. 

Soon, they backed away slowly, but reluctantly, but not taking away too far, breathing out soft puffs of air, their forehead pressed together. 

Jongin had his arms around Kyungsoo's frame, holding him close, as the latter cradled Jongin's neck in his warm palms. They were holding the eye contact for as long as they could, before Jongin started chuckling, pulling Kyungsoo into it too.

"Are we crazy?" Jongin said, before pecking him again, not bearing to be too far away from elder's lips.

"I'm crazy about you, so I guess we are," Kyungsoo concluded, slitting his lips over Jongin's again, nibbling on his lower one.

"I love you!" Jongin confessed breathlessly when they parted for some air, making Kyungsoo chuckle when he kissed him again. He pulled out a velvet box from somewhere behind him, startling Kyungsoo with two rings that he opened up the box to.

"I've read it online that the penguins confess their love with pebbles, but I couldn't just give you a pebble like that so I thought about something bigger. This is a promise ring, with whom I promise to love you for as long as I can."

Jongin pulled the two rings out, the silver bands simple but with a little cut-out of a heart in the middle. Kyungsoo smiled through another set of tears that threaten to fall, but allowed Jongin to slip one of the bands on his ring finger. It feels light, and it glistened under the Sun, and it's so beautiful, that it reminded Kyungsoo of what they have.

"I love you, too!" He confesses back, getting the most blinding and heart-stopping smile in return, as Jongin allows him to slip the other ring onto his finger as well.

They tried to kiss again, but his penguin buddies have had it enough, as they all started to nose and nip around his feet, eventually pulling them apart when the laughter filled up the silence.

Kyungsoo feels right, like he belonged right here and with everything that's happening, as he watches Jongin laughing, and bending down to pet the creatures softly over their fur. 

And he might've found the culprit to all of those messages written on his board, but he's found his mate as well, and who dares to correct him anyways.


End file.
